I had some Gala
apples I had to use up, but mostly I thought I had a couple of things
in the fridge which would go well with apple sauce. I had some
leftover German potato cakes in the fridge, and a couple of cheap
pork loins in the freezer. Pork loins which were sold in a two
pack for less than $5.00.
So, this post is
about the unsung hero, the meal behind the apple sauce.
I thawed one of
those pork loins in the fridge overnight, the night before, so it was
ready to roast.
I created a real
simple rub (which ended up being kind of Provençale*) by
grinding together in my mortar and pestle, in order of concentration,
the following:
- oregano
- savory
- basil
- fennel seeds
- sel gris
- black peppercorns
*In actuality, a
typical 'Herbes de Provence" mix usually does not contain
oregano; instead it often has rosemary, thyme, and lavender.
I was a little
sick of rosemary, from a very-rosemary-thanksgiving feast, and I've
currently run out of lavender, which actually would have worked with
this. However, I was feeling kind of lazy, and I wanted to cook
the potato-cakes in with the pork loin, so I picked the common
denominators among what would work with BOTH. Oregano goes with
potatoes and pork quite well... plus I like it. A
lot. It may be overused... but there could be a reason for
that. Fennel and pork go together like... fennel and oregano.
The others are just good complements to such a mix.
I think I've
explained before, my propensity to always segregate flavours in a
meal according to a single dominant flavour, and
then a couple (or multiple) complementary flavours.
If you haven't read that post, please see Dominant vs.Complementary Flavours, for a delightful and irreverent trip
across ijj's palate.
Anyway,
that mix got rubbed well into a perforated pork loin. I like to
stab little shallow holes in the meat; it tenderizes, allows for more
surface area for flavour-absorption, and it's super fun. Just
affix a grimace, flip the knife handle around in your grip, and go to
town.
I quartered my
leftover potato cakes, and just placed them in my slightly-greased Le
Creuset, loosely situated about the recently-violated pork loin.
I put this into
the oven at only 350° as I wanted some time to work on the apple
sauce.
For that, please
see my dedicated post entitled Homemade Organic Apple Sauce WithPeel.
However, here is a
quick pic of the final product.
 |
| Click to Enlarge |
The wife was about
45 mins late, and despite turning the oven down to warm, the
thoroughly-traumatized pork loin was making its peace with whatever
gods it prayed to by the end. The accompanying potatoes, along
for this joyride, just did not know what hit them, and by this time
were feeling soundly desecrated themselves.
I say this in
jest, because the pork was actually still rather moist, and the
potatoes - which had originally suffered from the unfortunate
happenstance of having moist interiors - were still rather fluffy.
It was good. And, considering that there was delicious
apple sauce to smother over it all, I wasn't really upset.
Incidentally, if
you're wondering about that thermos flask... (and I know
you are!) check out this post on my Thermal Flasks for the Kitchen.
